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☆ Google engineer who was laid off while on mental health leave says she 'silently mourned' after receiving her severance email at 2 a.m.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Google engineer said she found out she was laid off at 2 a.m. while on mental health leave. Google won't let her drop off her work laptop and other devices at the office, Neil said. Ali Neil, who started working at Google in 2020, told Insider she had been on mental health leave for just over three months when she discovered the tech giant had laid her off. Neil was among the roughly 12,000 employees that Google announced would be laid off from its global workforce. Google felt like a safe and stable environment, where the risk of being laid off was very low, Neil said.

☆ A former Google exec is suing the company, saying a coworker sexually harassed and drunkenly berated him
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former Google exec is blaming his termination from the company on discrimination and retaliation. Ryan Olohan says Google had failed to act on his complaints about a coworker's sexual advances. Ryan Olohan, formerly Google's managing director of food, beverage, and restaurants, filed a complaint against Google in November alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination, race discrimination, and retaliation. The suit names Tiffany Miller, Google's director of programmatic media, as a codefendant. The complaint says Google "discriminated against Olohan and subjected him to adverse employment actions including, but not limited to, terminating his employment."

☆ Google's head of mental health and wellbeing was among the 12,000 workers laid off by the tech giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google's head of mental health and wellbeing was laid off after 15 years working for the company. Current and former Google staff say they can't find the rationale behind the layoffs. Since July 2021 she had served as director of Google's mental health and wellbeing, which she described as her "dream role." Maczko added that "many people" in Google's mental health and wellbeing team had been laid off, though she did not specify how many. Filings Google made in California show that the company laid off dozens of directors across various divisions in the state.

☆ A laid-off Googler says colleagues should 'find perspective' about the recent layoffs: 'No one died. Seriously'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A laid-off Googler said colleagues should 'find perspective' about the recent layoffs. In a LinkedIn post, Mallika Iyer said of the cuts: "No one died. Iyer said there was "always a silver lining," adding: "Now let's quit whining and get to work." A Googler who survived the cuts told Insider that some others who kept their jobs cried during meetings the day the layoffs were announced. Iyer said in the LinkedIn post, published on January 20, that it was a "privilege" to work at Google, adding: "Google rocks, it always will, it's one of my happy places and has the best co-workers."

☆ An ex-Googler says he discovered he'd been laid off while feeding his newborn daughter at 2 a.m.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former Googler Nicholas Dufau said he felt "acutely expendable" after being laid off via email. He wrote on LinkedIn that he discovered he'd lost his job while feeding his newborn daughter at 2 a.m.Google said on January 20 it was laying off 12,000 workers. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. Dufau had worked at Google for six months as an associate product counsel before being laid off, according to his LinkedIn profile. On his LinkedIn post about being laid off, Dufal posted a screenshot of a termination notice from Google, as well as a photograph of himself with a newborn baby.

☆ A Google engineer says survivors of the mass layoffs cried in meetings the day around 12,000 of their colleagues were culled
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Google engineer said survivors of the recent mass layoffs cried in meetings the day of the cull. Laid-off Google staff in the US woke up on January 20 to an email saying they'd been cut, though some found out through messages from concerned colleagues. Several laid-off staff told Insider they'd been overwhelmed by offers of help from current and former staff, such as offers to share résumés. Xoogler, a community of former Google staff, has organized mental-health and immigration-advice sessions. "I miss my colleagues," Jarrod Ahalt, a laid-off security engineer, told Insider.

☆ A Googler says he was laid off while caring for his terminally-ill mom — but would take another job at the company 'in a heartbeat'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Google employee said he was laid off while on carers' leave looking after his terminally-ill mom. Paul Baker, a video producer, told Insider he'd embraced Google culture "100%." Paul Baker told Insider he was partway through a month of paid carers' leave when a friend notified him of Google's mass layoffs, announced January 20. He wrote on LinkedIn on Thursday that he was on carer's leave "for my immediate family member's terminal cancer." Baker said he was "extremely disappointed" by the impersonal manner in which Google laid him off, and by a lack of communication about what would happen with his unique situation.

☆ A Google recruiter says he discovered he'd lost his job after a call with one of his candidates suddenly disconnected
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Google recruiter said he learned he'd lost his job after a call with one of his candidates disconnected. Laid-off Google staff have criticized the abrupt and impersonal manner in which they were terminated. Lanigan-Ryan had been working on contract for headhunter Morgan McKinley at Google's office in Dublin, Ireland, since November 2021. He said that although he was paid by Morgan McKinley, "for all intents and purposes, I was a Google team member." She then saw a pop-up on her laptop with information about severance and "immediately lost access to everything," she said.

☆ A Google engineer of 8 years says his 'spidey-senses' detected incoming layoffs — and felt 'isolated' when his 'faceless' severance email arrived
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

He said Google's severance email was "cold," "faceless," and made him feel "isolated." According to Bowling, Google had put in place travel restrictions for some employees, cut certain budgets, and implemented a temporary hiring freeze. Over the eight years he worked at Google, Bowling said the perks became "less interesting." Bowling said he was confused and checked his work email on his phone, but his account was missing. Chris McDonald, another laid-off Google engineer, told Insider he was in "a state of shock" after receiving his severance email at 3 a.m. on Friday.

☆ Google let go of 31 massage therapists at its California offices amid mass layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Aaron Mok | Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google laid off 31 massage therapists in California, according to state filings. The massage therapists were among the 12,000 employees Google let go last Friday. Out of the 12,000 employees Google let go last Friday, 31 of them were massage therapists based in California, according to WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices that Google filed with California on January 20. Twenty-seven massage therapists were let go from Google's Mountain View office, the filings show. Google, which is known for its generous staff perks, gave employees free massages based on their performance.

☆ Google staff sent each other memes about layoffs to console each other and created spreadsheets to track firings, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google employees created spreadsheets to keep track of who was laid off, CNBC reported. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, told staff in a memo he took "full responsibility for the decisions that led us here." Following the announcement, Google employees demanded answers from executives about how the layoffs were determined, CNBC reported. It included the caption: "The sad thing is, I actually thought you were different," next to Google's logo, CNBC reported. Google staff have submitted questions on the company's Q&A system called Dory, CNBC reported.

☆ Some Google workers who've been laid off earned as much as $1 million a year, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced layoffs Friday affecting 12,000 positions at the Google owner. Some employees who earned as much as $1 million were also cut, The Information reported. Pichai told staff in a memo that he took "full responsibility for the decisions that led us here." According to The Information, Google told managers to put more employees into low-performing categories during performance reviews. A spokesperson for Alphabet Workers Union told Insider earlier this month that there had not been any complaints from new employees.

☆ One of Google's big plans to replace third-party cookies just hit a huge setback that it might not recover from
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google's plan to replace third-party tracking cookies with new tech has hit another snag. A W3C group has rejected Google's Topics API proposal, saying it won't adequately preserve user privacy. The W3C rebuke marks the latest in a series of snags in Google's effort to kill off third-party cookies. However, other browsers like Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox already block third-party cookies as privacy features. The company has its own commercial priorities and the commitment to the CMA that it can't remove third-party cookies until new features provide an adequate replacement.

The National Football League is finalizing a deal for the rights to its subscription-only package of games known as Sunday Ticket with Google's YouTube TV, according to people familiar with the matter. Goodell said earlier that the league aimed to announce a rights deal with Sunday Ticket by the end of the fall. The Sunday Ticket package has been the NFL's only set of media rights that has yet to be renewed through 2030. The deal with YouTube TV comes after various media operators, including Amazon , Apple and Disney's ESPN, considered the rights to the property. WATCH: I believe NFL media rights will be moving to streaming

☆ Google will pay $391.5 million to a settle a lawsuit on accusations of misleading users on its location-tracking practices
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google agreed to pay $391.5 million settle accusations of misleading location tracking practices, reported the New York Times. The decision comes after Google announced that it will limit Android's ad-tracking practices. The accusations also comes in the wake of an ongoing debate between Democrats and Republicans on how far federal privacy laws should go to limit businesses like Google from collecting personal user data. Google, in particular, collects user geolocation data and uses it to sell targeted ads which can be beneficial for retailers to sell their products. In October, Google settled a similar $85 million lawsuit with the state of Arizona.

☆ Republican National Committee is suing Google, claiming it sent millions of fundraising emails to spam folders ahead of midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The RNC is suing Google, saying it illegally sent millions of outreach emails to spam folders. A 2020 study suggested Gmail was much more likely to send mail from right-wing groups to spam. "Google has relegated millions of RNC emails en masse to potential donors' and supporters' spam folders during pivotal points in election fundraising and community building," the lawsuit stated. Google said it used AI-driven filters to determine spam emails by examining factors including "characteristics of the IP address, domains/subdomains, whether bulk senders are authenticated, and user input." "For ten months in a row, Google has sent crucial end-of-month Republican GOTV and fundraising emails to spam with zero explanation.

☆ YouTube considered entering China and bowing to the government's censorship rules, book says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Tom Dotan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

YouTube discussed launching the site in China but later abandoned the idea, a new book says. YouTube and Google do not currently operate in mainland China. Google and YouTube employees debated whether to launch in China not long after Google bought the site in 2006 for $1.65 billion. After Google bought YouTube, the company struggled to figure out how to launch around the world. It was also an indication that moderating content would be a never-ending struggle for YouTube and its new parent company.

☆ A bunch of Googlers who used to work at Amazon are internally sharing horror stories about their former employer's 'frupid' and aggressive culture
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Googlers who used to work at Amazon are sharing how much they hated being at the e-commerce giant. Amazon is a very kill-or-be-killed environment," one of the people on the email thread told Insider. By default, product managers received subpar Windows laptops and weren't eligible for Apple devices, this person wrote. "Pretty frupid to save $200 on something that could increase the productivity of an engineer you were paying six figures to," this person wrote. "I tend to like everything about Amazon culture better than Google except one thing: how the employees are treated ;)," another person wrote.

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